Schröder uses visit to tighten economic ties with Chinese

German chancellor also calls for end to European Union's arms embargo and fuels fight with junior coalition partner

10. Dezember 2004 F.A.Z. Weekly. There was no need for the playing of the national anthem or the appearance of an honor guard. German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder arrived in Beijing on Monday with business on his mind, and his Chinese hosts were not about to slow things down with welcoming ceremonies during his sixth visit to the country.
By the time Schröder headed off to Japan on Wednesday, China and Germany had gotten a lot of business done - both economic and political.
The focus was on the economic. During Schröder's trip, business contracts worth €1.4 billion ($1.86 billion) were signed. Siemens was a major winner. It pulled in contracts worth €600 million for such things as locomotives and electricity lines. Daimler Chrysler won out as well as Chinese airlines ordered 23 passenger planes produced by Airbus, in which the auto company holds a stake.
Such projects will boost an already booming relationship. German companies delivered €18.2 billion in goods and services to China in 2003, while China exported €25 billion worth to Germany, according to the German government. “Many, many people in both Germany and China are living from this trade relationship,“ Schröder said on Monday.
This week, the chancellor also helped German automakers celebrate their business in the booming country. He laid a foundation stone for a Mercedes auto factory in Beijing. And he opened a Volkswagen plant in the northeastern city of Changchun.
But the visit also strengthened the countries' political bond. The Chinese, for instance, backed Schröder's effort to gain a permanent seat for Germany on the U.N. Security Council. “Germany should play a more active role on the Security Council,“ Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said on Monday. China is one of the five permanent members on the council.
For his part, Schröder continued to urge the European Union to lift its ban on weapons sales to China. The ban was imposed after Chinese leaders crushed a protest movement in 1989. “This weapons embargo is a product of the Cold War era,“ Wen said.
To press that point, Wen traveled to the Hague, Netherlands, after he met with Schröder for an EU summit on the issue Wednesday. Afterward, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende raised the possibility that the embargo could be lifted soon.
In backing the removal of the embargo, the Social Democrat Schröder is challenging his coalition partner, the Greens. In interviews this week, leading members of the Greens expressed their disagreement with the chancellor. “I think this plan is a fatal mistake because the chancellor is trying to overturn Germany's human-rights and security policies,“ Angelika Beer, a former co-leader of the Greens, said in a broadcast interview.
One of the party's current co-leaders, Claudia Roth, said that Germany would not sell weapons to China even if the embargo were lifted. Roth said the German government must consider a country's human-rights record in weapons sales requests. China's record has “major shortcomings,“ she said.